City Council Hears Updates on Police, Fire, and Emergency Dispatch Services

FRAMINGHAM - The Framingham City Council heard updates regarding local police, fire, and emergency dispatch operations during their meeting at the Memorial Building on Tuesday, June 17.

The agenda item was added to provide information to local legislators about a variety of safety initiatives across the community.

Chief of the Framingham Police Department Lester Baker spoke about the pilot program that was launched last year to rollout body cameras for police officers. The cameras are designed to automatically turn on for all officers responding to a call whenever a weapon is drawn.

After months of training and negotiations with police union representatives, Baker said the department is currently launching their body camera program for all officers this month.

“We have 136 sworn police officers in the city of Framingham; we have a camera for everybody from the chief—as you see—to the most junior officer in the department,” Baker explained at the Memorial Building while pointing to his own body cam.

Fire Chief Michael Dutcher was the next to speak on Tuesday, as he highlighted specific challenges facing the Framingham Fire Department.

Dutcher told City Council members that call volume into the department has gone up by 20% in the past five years. That same metric is up by more than 61% since 1998, according to Dutcher’s presentation on Tuesday, but the department has only gained two additional uniformed firefighters since 1998—from 147 to 149. Dutcher added that the increased call volume results in less time for training and a limited bandwidth for first responders to address multiple calls appropriately.

Additional challenges for the local fire department outlined by Dutcher include aging facilities and continued community growth, as the latter factor adds to the department’s response time. Dutcher explained that down the line, a new fire station in the western part of Framingham could become a necessity in order to provide proper services given the location of their current stations.

“Even some of those high rise apartments along Route 9,” Dutcher continued, “the Nobscot station is the second engine company that supports those along Route 9; that’s a 13 to 17 minute delay on getting there, and that’s with lights and sirens.”

Finally, City Councilors heard updates about the planned regional 911 dispatch center that’s set to be established within Framingham.

The Framingham City Council unanimously approved of the provisions to develop the Middlesex Regional Emergency Communication Center (MRECC) District last May. The center, which is set to be located at 188 Concord Street, will initially be comprised of dispatchers fielding emergency calls out of Framingham and Natick, though MRECC Executive Director Erin Hastings told local officials on Tuesday that Wayland could be soon added to the operation.

Mayor Charlie Sisitsky has made it a goal of his administration to create a regional dispatch center; he has contended that the current dispatch resources in Framingham are “functionally obsolete.”

Hastings told the City Council that administrative infrastructure—legal, financial, and payroll setup included—has been a big focus in recent months in order to ensure the MRECC can go live properly. Employees will be district employees as opposed to municipal employees.

Hastings said their goal is for the MRECC to begin service in July of 2026, though she mentioned that the date will be based on when the Concord Street site is ready and available.

Note: this article was slightly edited on Thursday, June 19, in order to more accurately reflect Chief Dutcher's quote to the City Council regarding Route 9 coverage.